The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-12
FORTUNES MADE BY A TOY
YANKEE DEVICES FOR GATHER
ING IN THE NICKELS.

The Advance Made in Inventions of
This Character-A Future Financial
prince-Some Points About Jay
Gould's Oldest Boy.
NEW YORK, June 1.-The ingenious toy
maker of old who made a coachand-four,
complete as to all details, 50 small that the
shell of hazelnut would cover it, has been
surpassed in the line of ingenious plaything
hy Rhode Island Yankee. With true YAM
kee shrewdnesS this toy maker has so CON
strlcted his creations that they make money
and draw it from two channels into one
Golfer. The devices are the little gold and
silver steamboats,, locomotives, fire engines
and CorGss engines, which are found in the
luxurious New York saloons and hotel lob
bies, in one amusement hall and i'll public
resorts all over the Union. The idea of con-
strllcting these toys, whose mechanism
should be made to move by dropping nickels
into IA SLOT in the pedestal on which they
rested originated with an ingenious New
England model maker, and fortunes are
now being made out OF the enterprise. One
large firm in Providence, R. l.. has large
factory devoted entirely to the business and
scores of men employed Strange to say,
the makers refuse to sell their goods
Last week the proprietor of the principal
hotel on Union Square offered the manu-
facturer in question $1,000 for the model of
n steam fire engine, the machinery of which
runs to the tunes of music box after one
has dropped annexed into the slot in the ped
estal The offer was refused because the
firm never permits its goods TO so out of its
possession They lease the toys for the
hoD1SCr1,a Of nc month orr riyo tho
proprietors of profitable resorts q percent
age of the income. In cases where a per
centage is given the collector of a bank,
designated by the owners, calls once a week
to clean out the nickels that the toy has ac-
cumulated and to give the proprietor of the
place his share, which never exceeds 80 per
cent. In popular resorts the income from
these toys amounts TO IS and s12 day
They are models of fire engines, locono-
tives or steamers of certain well-known
manufacturers or lines, which pay the com
pany for making them handsome sum for
advertising their corporations. Thus money
from two sources accrueS to the rich Yam
KEGS who originated the idea. One of the
first of their machines was the model of
steamboat placed in a Chicago saloon of
note. Since that steamer was put in profit
able oneration more than a dozen devices
have been placed in New York resorts, and
the makers have their models in saloons as
far West as Denver and as far South as
Texas. In the places freguented by the
poorer classes they have music boxes, which
are operated by dropping cents into the
slots. The average income from these is
S. per day. The Yankee has not yet been
able to make music boxes that equal those
of the Swiss manufacture and the makers
of the toys in question, all of which are pro-
vided with music boxes, send abroad $50
600 a year for them. The most profitable
lol Sc. A
locomotive, perfect as to every detail, ranks
next in popularity. Its machinery works,
its electric headlight blazes forth and a
music box underneath it plays popular airs
at the instance of a nickel In a few weeks
habitues of one New York place who
choose to spend their nickels on the device
will see the perfect model of a modern per-
fecting printing press, which will throw off
as souvenirs copies of a newspaper. The
manufacturers will derive income from the
nicxels, from the royalty paid by the news
papers advertised or from certain firms
whose advertisements appear in the souve-
Mrs
In addition to these toys are the machines
made by New York firm which gather in
the nickels at a surprising rate in much fire.
quented resorts. One of these gives the
depositor of nickel a shock of electricity,
and another shows him his weight One of
the most popular inventions in this line is a
little apparatus which, when nickel is
dropped into it, throws out receptacle and
presents the donor of the scent piece with
package of candy The stock of the COM
pany making these machines last men
toned is SO greedily taken up that none is
on the market. Branch corporations for in
Producing their nickel collectors in Europe
as to be organized.
The New England Yankee inventor who
first originated the idea is making minia-
ture race course for sporting resorts Sew.
eral little horses run around circular hur-
die track so constructed that no one can tell
which horse will win The toy will give
betting men chance to wager their money
on the miniature horses and the owner of the
invention handsome income from the
nickels of the betters
AMOS J. CUMMINGS.